Perth Voice Interactive

Some of the aftermath from this week’s explosion at the Morley Galleria. Two men died in the tragedy, with one, Matt Hutchins, aged just 22. At the time of going to print, two other men (50 and 48) remain in a critical condition in Royal Perth Hospital. Police say it’s believed all four men—employees or subcontractors of a WA company that services the high-voltage electrical industry—had been working near an electrical transformer.

FOOD VAN permits in Bayswater are nearly double those of neighbouring Vincent.

Cool Breeze Cafe co-owner Georgia Johnson says the high cost is contributing to a low take-up of the business model.

Bayswater’s food van permits, introduced in September, cost a cool $1500 per year. In Vincent they’re $619 for selling “pre-wrapped” food like pies and $858 for fast food prepared in-van. Swan’s permits cost $1146 and Perth $380.60 for four months (the capital is trialling vans across 15 locations).

Just two vendors have signed up for Bayswater—Annie’s Wood Fired Pizza in Bardon Park and a van that will sell coffee and biscuits at Wright Park.

Ms Johnson says Cool Breeze Cafe has been trading at Riverside Gardens car park for more than a year and had to apply for a mobile food vehicle permit when the new local law was introduced.

“I don’t mind paying the fee because the council have been very supportive and provide a lots of services for us, including rubbish collection,” she says.

“But the fee is high and people have said to me that it is a disincentive to setting up a van in the city.

“I also feel that some of the regulations of the permit could be more flexible, for example that all signage has to be affixed to the vehicle.”

Annie’s Pizza owner Ian Gibson says his van has ceased trading till April because of family health reasons and upgrades to Bardon Park.

Business has been relatively slow since opening, with Mr Gibson pushing for the park’s playground facilities to be upgraded to attract more families.

Mayor Sylvan Albert says food vans will be positioned in under-utilised public spaces where they won’t compete with existing food outlets.

“The fee covers the permit to operate in the specified location for the specified period,” he says.

“The clustering of mobile food activities will promote a more diversified array of unique food products and community interaction.”

Bayswater also offers a six-month ($850) and three-month ($500) option.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

LABOR’S come down on the side of Vincent in the merger debate, with Mark McGowan saying his troops won’t support any City of Perth Act that forcibly merges the two councils or which allows vote-weighting to favour businesses over residents.

Premier Colin Barnett is planning to use the Act to mush the two councils together.

Both councils have released position statements on the idea: Perth’s runs to 133 pages but Vincent mayor John Carey says his council doesn’t have those kind of resources so his runs to seven.

A key difference is Vincent is heavily pushing “one vote, one value,” but the PCC reckons CBD businesses that employ lots of workers deserve more of a say.

Perth is spruiking a City of London model where workplaces with 50 employees get 10 votes, with another vote for every additional 50. They say “given the unique nature of the capital city and its predominantly commercial focus it is considered reasonable to advocate for the strongest possible electoral franchise for non-residential voters”.

Mr McGowan says that’s undemocratic and he won’t support it: he says it’d be like giving Andrew Forrest and James Packer more votes simply because they’re wealthy.

The City of Perth Act isn’t a sure thing, even through the lower house where the government can usually count on having the numbers. Liberal MP Rob Johnson has publicly said he’ll oppose it and if the Nationals follow suit it’ll take just one more Liberal to cross the floor for the legislation to sink.

If it does get through the lower house it faces a fight in the upper house where the combined votes of the Nationals, Labor and the Greens would be enough to stop it.

by DAVID BELL

THEY’VE scrimped and saved and now Vincent’s massive budget problems seem to finally be under control.

At the start of the financial year the council had to save $6.4million after a budget error threatened to put it in the red.

In the latest budget update it’s predicting to be just $165,000 off the mark come July. It’s looking to be the first time in five years it hasn’t wound up with a multi-million dollar deficit.

CEO Len Kosova, who walked into the job mid-last year to find the budget in disarray, says some savings have been found by keeping a close eye on staff spending.

“We’ve had to introduce a great deal more financial control and rigour than the organisation has previously experienced,” he says.

“I’ve made it crystal clear to all managers and directors that they will be held to account to manage their budgets.”

Reports on what department heads buy with their corporate credit card now go to the council every month. Works are scrutinised for completion and the council is more rigorous when it comes to exacting payment.

Asked how staff had reacted to the strict measures, especially given former CEO John Giorgi had been popular with the troops, Mr Kosova replied: “I’ll be blunt”.

“We’re here to run a business on behalf of our community,” he told the Voice. “It’s not a popularity contest, and we need to make sure we’re extracting the best value for public money.

“For some staff that might be something that’s different and maybe a little uncomfortable, but other staff are embracing it and appreciate the extra accountability and responsibilities.”

Much of the savings have come from deferring projects such as the Oxford Street CCTV plan, and the $100,000 youth skate park is off the table.

But mayor John Carey says there hasn’t been too many projects affected.

The next budget will be looked at closely so the council doesn’t bite off more than it can chew.

“We’re on track,” the mayor says. “We are turning things around, our new CEO is driving accountability and scrutiny in the organisation and that should give confidence to the community that we are moving in the right direction and eliminating wastage where we can.”

by DAVID BELL

THE short-lived ability to subdivide 240sqm blocks into even smaller parcels has been banned in the Cleaver and Hyde precincts in Vincent.

The right to subdivide tiny blocks had been an accidental side-effect of a state government policy intended to give higher density to places like Ellenbrook. It ended up affecting Vincent’s historic inner-city suburbs by mistake.

Residents had been divided over the oopsie: some feared it would lead to the area’s stock of old buildings demolished, while others saw dollar signs rolling before their eyes.

Either way, it’s been outlawed since January 27 when the council’s new law was gazetted to rezone the blocks to what they effectively used to be.

by DAVID BELL

A NEW breed of convenience stores taking over from the old corner deli is springing up throughout central Perth, and coming head to head with inner-city residents.

Many popping up about the place are the more well-known Kwik-E-Mart and 7-Eleven franchises but similar stores such as GloryXpress are also muscling in.

An application for a GloryXpress convenience store for Terrace Road in East Perth fronted Perth city council Tuesday, with nearby residents objecting on noise, waste disposal and parking grounds.

Traffic nightmare

Neighbour Michelle Noble says it’ll be a traffic nightmare that will require policing to prevent shoppers blocking a right-of-way.

Two-dozen locals, a rare sight in the usually empty rows of public gallery chairs, attended the meeting. Councillors were presented with a 205-signature petition.

The PCC decided to refer the item back to the planning committee for more consideration. Cr Reece Harley noted he’d been “disappointed” to see a 7-Eleven had already moved into the McNess arcade and installed modern signage over the grand windows.

by DAVID BELL